


what are you doing after this?

by deadratz



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: First Dates, First Kiss, Hannibal doesn't take anything seriously, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27397909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadratz/pseuds/deadratz
Summary: Hannibal and Will are nearly bleeding out on a beach, and yet Hannibal believes it's the best time to ask Will out on a first date.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 30
Kudos: 291





	what are you doing after this?

**Author's Note:**

> Based off this [Tweet](https://twitter.com/floresnimri/status/1321547388817969152?s=20) !
> 
> All mistakes my own and I am not a doctor so anything medical in this is like not good advice.

The sea is calm, which ultimately saves Hannibal and Will from crashing into rocks and drowning. Using their last bits of strength following their battle with Francis Dolarhyde, and their dwindling levels of adrenaline, they slowly swim to shore. Coughing up water, bleeding out of their new orifices, they collapse side by side on the pebbly beach. 

“What are you doing after this?” Hannibal asks, turning his head to face Will. 

_Dying, probably,_ Will thinks. Instead of saying it, though, he just stares at Hannibal, eyes wild and confused, and silently asking a million questions. _We’re bleeding out on a beach and you want to know what I’m doing after this?_ Will thinks Hannibal has to be joking because the tone of his words is airing on flirtatious, but he looks at Will, an eyebrow raised, clearly waiting for a response.

“Seriously?” Will asks. He tries to sit up but groans in pain and lays back down.

“Of course,” Hannibal nods once. He’s applying pressure to the gunshot wound on his abdomen. “We need to get back to the house before the FBI arrives. I can tend to our injuries and get us out of the area, perhaps not in that order,” Hannibal explains, calm as ever. Too calm for someone who has just been shot and otherwise injured, then thrown off a cliff. “But what are you doing after that?”

“I don’t…” Will starts, then shakes his head. He doesn’t continue.

“Then I will ask if you would be inclined to join me for dinner and a movie.”

“Are you asking me on a _date?_ ” Will practically shrieks. 

“Yes,” Hannibal responds as if it’s the most simple thing in the entire world. As if they’re not bleeding out on a beach, a hundred feet below the place they started, as if Hannibal isn’t being put right back on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as they speak. Will, too, likely once they find the scene above, and realize the blood on the rocky shore means they _both_ made it out of the water and fled the scene. _Together_.

“Are you _insane,_ Hannibal?” Will yells.

“Legally, yes I am.”

“Oh goddammit, I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” Will groans. He’s staring up at the dark night sky, watching an airplane pass them by. When he turns to look at Hannibal, the man is smirking. Their eyes lock and Hannibal slowly brings a hand to Will’s face and pushes his soaking hair away from his forehead where it’s currently plastered. 

“Yes. I will allow you time to decide, as there are more dire matters at hand, such as my bleeding out on this beach, but I would eventually like to have an answer,” Hannibal tells Will. He slowly sits up, and Will physically cringes at the pained noises Hannibal makes as he pulls himself to his feet. “Are you coming?”

Will pushes himself off the ground and immediately wishes he had done so slower. He sways on his feet, feeling lightheaded and Hannibal removes one hand from his wound to grab Will’s elbow and steady him.

“How are you on your feet?” Will asks, breath ragged.

“High threshold for pain. I believe the bullet missed all organs so that is beneficial,” Hannibal shrugs.

“Only you would say something like that. How does getting shot benefit anyone at all?” 

“Maybe I do not want to go on a date with you anymore. You may stay here and bleed to death if you’re going to choose to be this way,” Hannibal says, walking away with one hand pressed to his back and the other to his front. It looks awkward, he has to twist to make it work, but it seems to be doing the trick because he keeps walking at a brisk pace. 

Will attempts to jog to catch up to him but the stab wounds are throbbing and his heart is pounding out of his chest, and his head feels like it’s pulsating. Will closes his eyes and takes three deep breaths before calling out for Hannibal to wait. Hannibal slows his pace, but doesn’t stop walking.

“We do not have much time at all, Will. Had you not thrown us off a bluff this would be going much differently,” Hannibal calls back in his calm voice. It makes Will seethe. He wishes they would’ve died like they intended, but no, here he is being asked out on a date by a serial killer, and he’s actually considering saying yes.

Will catches up with Hannibal and wheezes, lungs still burning from choking on ocean water. “You know I’m married, right?”

“Are you?” Hannibal asks, feigning disbelief.

“Yeah, so I probably shouldn’t go on a date with you.”

“That’s very unfortunate.” Hannibal shakes his head, but Will can tell he’s not at all convinced. “So are you going to let me stitch your wounds and then you are going to go home to our wife? Are you going to turn me in, too?”

“Right now I’m not certain either of those are very likely. I intended for us to die so I don’t have any plans for the future.”

“Hm yes. And why is that? Can’t live with me, can’t live without me?”

“Yes, actually.” And Will doesn’t say anything for the rest of the long walk back up to the house. The incline, plus his soaking wet clothes weighing him down, the blood loss and the pounding head, wounds, and heart, certainly do not make the trip go very fast. 

Will nearly cries in relief when the house comes into sight. Hannibal looks mildly pleased, nothing more. It pisses Will off. Hannibal is too calm and casual for this entire situation. There’s no reason he should even be standing, or alive for that matter.

“You know Will, if you intend to kill us by throwing us off a cliff, maybe consider that you are with someone who has a lot of experience with swimming, and has been locked in a room for three years and longs for some sort of excitement,” Hannibal says like it’s all so obvious. “People have jumped off cliffs for recreational purposes for years, many of which are higher than this bluff. Poor planning on your part, don’t you think, Will? Would your gun not have been an easier solution?”

Will glares at him and walks into the house.

“I really never took you for the murder-suicide type, dear Will,” Hannibal keeps talking. Will wishes he would just shut up, but that’s entirely too much to ask for, isn’t it? “Have you decided on the dinner and movie invitation? Or would you prefer roller skating? I’m flexible as I have done nothing but sit in a cell drawing and reading for three years.”

“Can you just like… I don’t know…” But Will does know. “Take this more seriously?”

“I thought you wished for us to die, Will? Have you changed your mind when faced with the reality of your choices?”

Hannibal goes off to find medical supplies, and Will decides to go change into something dry and not stained with more blood than what is left in his body. Hannibal finds him standing in front of a closet, more than one bag in his hands. 

“If you do wish to leave with me, I have false passports from another lifetime, as well as anything else you need to take on a false identity, in this bag,” Hannibal says, holding up the duffle bag in his left hand. “If you do not, then I would prefer you take me back to the Baltimore State Hospital so I can check back into my room and get proper medical care.”

“So if I choose to stay with you, you’ll run, but if I don’t want to go, that’s it? You’ll just go back to your cell?” Will asks, shaking his head. That can’t be right. It can’t all come down to what Will wants. Hannibal has the choice to be free, and likely never be caged again, but once again, he would turn himself in for Will.

“Precisely. I am very happy to announce I do not believe you have suffered any head injuries. You are keeping up splendidly.”

Will crosses his arms, ignoring the pain from the stab wound on his shoulder where it pushes and pulls. “Keep making comments like this and I won’t go on that date with you.”

“So the date is a possibility then?”

“You’re insufferable. Now leave so I can change.” 

“Allow me to help you. I will require your help as well. I believe cutting our clothes off would be more efficient,” Hannibal says, reaching into the med bag he’s holding to find scissors. Once free of their soaking fabric constraints, they both put on pants, but Hannibal stops Will from grabbing another shirt. “It would not be possible for me to stitch that stab wound if you are wearing a shirt, Will.”

“Right,” Will says. 

Hannibal explains that it would likely be best for both of them if he takes care of his own wounds first before tending to Will’s, and Will just agrees, not quite present in his mind enough to care. Just as Hannibal expected, the bullet missed all organs which means a less complicated operation. Will doesn’t watch as Hannibal takes care of the wound, but he immediately wishes he had when Hannibal tells him he needs to stitch the wound on his back. Laying on his stomach on the bed, he instructs Will exactly what to do, and Will does so with trembling hands. 

“You’re doing great, Will,” Hannibal keeps repeating, but it does nothing for Will’s nerves. He sighs in relief when he finally finishes and Hannibal smiles, showing all his teeth. Hannibal assesses Will’s injuries with gentle hands, fingers lightly pressing and prodding. He stitches up Will’ stab wounds, then places bandages over them. “I’m afraid I do not have any painkillers or antibiotics that aren’t expired and I don’t exactly have the necessary clearance to write prescriptions any longer.”

“We’ll break into a pharmacy when we can, then. What’s one more crime on your record?” Will smiles weakly, face pulling at the fresh stitches on his cheeks. 

“Very well. We need to leave now. We can get a motel room nearby to rest. I don’t believe the FBI will expect us to stay close.” Hannibal doesn’t even bother asking Will again if he’s going with Hannibal. They both know what Will’s choice is. 

“What about our date?” Will asks. 

Hannibal reaches out to cup Will’s good cheek in his hand, and Will leans into the touch. He closes his eyes and sighs, and figures he must be losing his mind if he’s really planning on doing this. He decides he doesn’t care and leans forward to press his lips to Hannibal’s. 

\-----

Hannibal does end up breaking into a pharmacy and steals more than enough painkillers, antibiotics, and other assorted pills that he thinks might become necessary at some point. He doesn’t consider it stealing because he does leave a large pile of cash on the counter, but he still broke in. He returns to Will in their cheap motel room, much below Hannibal’s standards, but it’s in a good place and they won’t be suspected there. They stay in that motel room until they’re mostly recovered, only leaving when absolutely necessary.

Not only did they fulfill their promise to break into a pharmacy, but they did end up going on their date.

Hannibal was not entirely serious about going to a movie as he has never been a fan of normal movie theaters, but Will would not let it go after it was suggested. Donning disguises, which aren’t actually that good, but they suspect the teenagers working at the theater won’t even bother looking at them at all, they go to a showing of some scary movie. Hannibal doesn’t remember the title, and he feels like it’s a giant waste of his time.

The movie was an extremely inaccurate depiction of murderers. Hannibal keeps leaning over and whispering critiques of the movie’s villain into Will’s ear, and Will stuffs popcorn in his mouth, eyes glued to the screen.

“This is ridiculous. He doesn’t actually want to kill them, he’s just playing a game with them. It is _not_ that difficult to subdue and kill a couple of young adults. If this were me, the movie would last 5 minutes.”

“Uh huh, baby, you’re so right,” Will says, not at all paying attention to what Hannibal is saying. Someone in front of them turns around tells Hannibal to shut up, which does get Will’s attention. Will puts an arm around Hannibal’s shoulders and grabs one of his hands, giving it a squeeze. All he says is “Don’t.” And Hannibal knows exactly what Will is telling him, so he doesn’t. He wants to rip that kid’s head off, but Will said no.

Hannibal opens his mouth to ask Will, “Please?” But he doesn’t get that far, because Will turns his head and shuts him up with a kiss. After that, Hannibal slumps in his seat and stops paying attention to the movie all together. 

After the movie, they walk out holding hands, and Will pulls Hannibal in the other direction when he catches Hannibal staring down that kid that told them to shut up. 

Tattlecrime has articles being published about possible sightings that night, and too many of them are too near the theater that they went to. They leave the country that night, fleeing to several different countries before finally settling in France after two weeks of travel to throw anyone off their trail. 

Once there, they go on that roller skating date Hannibal suggested. And they do go on many more dates after that.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos if you liked it :)


End file.
